The Deities of Hell

Ritsu and Lars glared at each other in front of the hole on the third floor.

Vigilant of Lars’ ability to shoot stars like bullets, Ritsu held up his sword.

Blood dripped from his shoulder, and his trembling legs refused to move.

“Don’t come any closer,”

Lars said and removed his right handcuff.

Ritsu closed the distance between them and swung his sword.

Lars spread his wings and flew up in the air while diving behind him, successfully avoiding his slashes.

Ritsu’s sword only managed to graze Lars but didn’t hit him.

“Idiot! He went too far down!”

Lars continued dodging backward until he finally hit a wall.

Taking advantage of that, Ritsu aimed at his head and swung his sword.

“Wha—!”

The sword was stopped by chains.

Lars gripped the chain extending from his left handcuff with his right hand, firmly blocking the sword.

Ritsu was kicked flying, ensuring the distance between them again.

On top of that, he shot a star, hitting his chest.

“Ugh!?”

Ritsu was blown away from the hit, blood dripping from the wound.

“Ritsu!”

Pomkichi rushed to Ritsu who lay collapsed on the floor.

“I can’t go on anymore. Farewell, Pomkichi…”

Ritsu fell unconscious.

Lars approached Ritsu and Pomkichi who was too occupied to see him.

“Hey, Teddy, the boy was shot right in the chest. There’s only death waiting for him now… I won’t take your life, so come over here.”

Lars used a soft voice and extended his hand while smiling at the seemingly crying bear.

At that moment, Ritsu shot up and cut Lars’ throat with his sword.

Blood gushed from his neck, and the headphones over his ears fell to the ground.

“You were alive? From an attack that close… Why?”

Lars pressed down on his neck where he was cut and scowled at Ritsu.

“Ritsu! You’re alive!”

“I stopped the star with my red Devil’s Eye. Thanks to that, it didn’t become a fatal wound.”

Looking at Ritsu’s red eyes, Lars came to a realization.

“Those eyes were the ones you showed me the first time… Do they have some sort of devil-like power?”

“Seems like you noticed. But I noticed something too… Something like maybe it worked on you?”

“What did?”

Pomkichi tilted his head and looked at Ritsu who was standing up.

Ritsu showed an expression full of confidence, his red eyes were twinkling.

“If the stars won’t work… I’ll just kill you directly.”

Lars spread his wings, flew up in the air, and dove down on Ritsu.

That speed couldn’t be matched with the speed he had used before.

“He’s as fast as a small animal! Dodge him, Ritsu!”

“No, I won’t dodge! Devil’s Eye, Balor!”

“The red Devil’s Eye won’t be effective against him! You should know that yourself, right?! So why!?”

As Pomkichi said, Lars wasn’t a devil or a demon or a ghost.

Because of that, the red Devil’s Eye wouldn’t work on him.

However, Lars suddenly froze midair.

His arms and legs moved, but his wings had stiffened and hung still in the air.

“What!? They won’t move!? My wings won’t move!”

“As I thought. Seems like only the wings were the only devil-part of him.”

“Amazing!”

Lars became unable to move, and Ritsu, from using his Devil’s Eye, was unable to move too.

However, his eyes changed to yellow, and his sword levitated upwards toward Lars.

“Lars! I’ll seal you in this sanctuary!”

The sword was aimed to plunge into his chest.

However, Lars moved his hand and repelled the sword with his handcuff.

The sword ended up lodging into Ritsu’s shoulder.

“Ahhh!!!”

Lars extended the chain of his handcuffs to the maximum length, enough to reach Ritsu below.

The chain whipped Ritsu, and the handcuff at the end was hurled towards his head.

“Ritsu!”

However, Pomkichi flung himself in front of the handcuff and stopped the blow.

He dangled from the chain before jumping at Lars like he was flowing.

“Now, Ritsu!”

“Let go of me, Bear! You—!”

“Woah!?”

In a panic, Lars ripped Pomkichi from his head.

“Wha—!?”

As Lars was tearing him off himself, Ritsu canceled his red Devil’s Eye and swung his sword.

Time seemed to have stopped as he saw Ritsu’s blue eyes right in front of him.

Lars promptly raised his handcuff in front of his face, but the chain was cut off.

“Ugh!?”

“Sleep here.”

Ritsu cut him deeply from his neck to chest, and Lars dropped from the air like a crow falling from the sky.

“Hah, hah.”

“You did it! As expected of you, Ritsu!”

As blood was seeping from Lars’ wounds, a strange white light emitted from Pomkichi.

Ritsu noticed the faint light.

“You-- Something’s coming out of your body…”

What was leaving Pomkichi’s body was his soul.

His body paled and seemed to grow transparent.

Ritsu who could see demons and ghosts naturally, clearly saw it.

“I just remembered… I was a devil. The devil that was killed by Lars. Before I died, I entered this body,”

Pomkichi said before collapsing.

The soul clung to Pomkichi’s body but looked like it was about to separate from it.

“Devil? What’s that coming out of your body? Your soul?”

“Beating Lars is my trigger to enter heaven. S-sorry, Ritsu.”

Pomkichi looked like he was crying.

He was unable to shed tears, but Ritsu was painfully aware that he was sad.

“Devil’s Eye Balor!”

Ritsu stopped the soul coming out of Pomkichi’s body.

“If you use the Devil’s Eye any more, you’ll become hungry. This must be fate… So I won’t stop.”

“What about our promise!? Weren’t you going to become a big star after leaving the sanctuary!? You were going to fund my wedding! Hey! Pull yourself together, Pomkichi!”

“Farewell, Ritsu. We had a good time together.”

Ritsu had used the Devil’s Eye too much and reflexively canceled it after he grew hungry.

The soul left Pomkichi’s body with a “Woah!”.

“Pomkichi… You moron…”

Ritsu hugged the still Pomkichi tightly.

Tears dripped from his blue eyes.

Simultaneously, Lars reached for Ritsu and Pomkichi and breathed his last breath.